Posted on 01/08/2025 4:44:43 PM PST by karpov
Donald Trump has always enjoyed talking real estate, but these days instead of hotels or condos his acquisition targets are sovereign nations and territories. At a press conference Tuesday, the President-elect made news for remarks on adding Canada, Panama and Greenland to the U.S. property portfolio. The trick is figuring out when Mr. Trump is trolling and when he means it.
One journalist at Mar-a-Lago asked the President-elect if he is “considering military force to annex and acquire Canada.” Mr. Trump: “No. Economic force. Because Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like . . . ”
This is pure trolling. Mr. Trump likes to taunt Canada’s progressive Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, belittling him as “Governor” of a soon-to-be 51st state. Mr. Trump has a point that Canada doesn’t pull its weight in NATO, having recently pledged to hit the alliance’s spending target, 2% of GDP, by 2032. But Canadians don’t want to join the U.S., and the country’s political culture is that of a European welfare state. What would it do to Mr. Trump’s GOP majority to acquire another California?
Mr. Trudeau has presided over national decline, and the polls say that Pierre Poilievre and his Conservative Party are in good position for the coming election. Yet the more Mr. Trump tweaks Canada by calling it America’s next real-estate purchase, the more he’ll force Mr. Poilievre to push back as a nationalist to win. Mr. Trump seems never to notice the downside of making fun of allies.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Interesting article, but I wish Trump wouldn’t refer to a national border as an “artificially drawn line.” It seems like that’s the sort of globalist attitude towards borders that a lot of us have been fighting against for a long time now. There are other ways to troll than to act like borders and national sovereignty don’t matter.
this is not a bad idea if you force the countries go become more wary of enemies both foreign and domestic.
I have to agree. Much of the evil in the world is people not keeping a tight enough rein on their governments.
Some, like us, because we are soft and lazy, and some who simply cannot because of the tyrannical nature of their governments.
Greenland has real security implications, not just for the U.S. but for Europe as well, while the Panama Canal is all about sending China back to Asia, and reclaiming that which we created. We gave it back to Panama for the sake of Panama, not to assist China. If Panama resists, then it just might be taken back by force, for actual national security reasons.
My thoughts, exactly.
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